A Veteran's Journey

Trivia Questions (Answers @ end)

1. Who said, “If you live a life of make-believe, your life isn’t worth anything until you do something that does challenge your reality. And to me, sailing the open ocean is a real challenge, because it’s life or death.”?
2. In what movie (and who said it) did we hear, “I hate this detail. I hate this #*!& chicken$%!@ detail!”?
3. In what song (and who sang it) did we hear the following:
   In the cool of the evenin’ when everything is gettin’ kind of groovy
   I call you up and ask you if you’d like to go with me and see a movie
   First you say, no, you’ve got some plans for the night
   And then you stop and say, “Alright”

I was only 17 years old when I first left home to “run away to college.” I say that jokingly, but after high school, I wanted needed to move out on my own.

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Anyone else feel that way?

So I traveled all the way up to the northern part of Florida and began my somewhat brief college career at Florida State University (“drive north ‘til you smell it; turn left and drive ‘til you step in it”).

Forgive me. That’s an old joke between my father (a University of Florida law school graduate) and my mother (an FSU graduate). Yeah… that one football game around Thanksgiving (Gators v. Seminoles) was always interesting at the Adkins’ homestead.

But I digress…

I didn’t last long at FSU—they asked me to leave (“dismissed for academic reasons”) after my first year; I don’t know why, I had a whopping 0.7 GPA.

Next Journey… the Navy

So… I joined the Navy. I was 18 years old and could legally sign documents on my own. “Press hard, the third copy is yours.” I didn’t tell my parents until—that phone call. I was still in Tallahassee, working at a local scuba dive shop.

Dad: “Son. We got your report card in the mail today. We need to talk.”
Mom: “I’m sure there’s a good reason for your grades.”
Me: “Mom, Dad… I joined the Navy.”
Mom/Dad (collectively): “What!!!”

I forget whatever else was said on that phone call, but I know that was one of the best decisions I ever made.

Within a couple of months, I was off to boot camp (Orlando RTC, Company #163, July 1973). I’ve written about that “transition” in the past.

A “New” Language

One thing I always wanted to do was to learn another language. Those six weeks of high school French and Spanish were only a slight taste of what was to come: “Oui, Senora.” Or “Gracias, Mademoiselle.” I get those mixed up ALL.THE.TIME.

I’m sure other veterans will correct me if I’m wrong, but in Boot Camp, I learned a whole ‘nother language. I’m sure all military services have their own unique lingo, but the Navy… well, let’s just say, I’m just a little biased.

The Navy even issued us “the bible:” The Bluejacket’s Manual. Hmm…

So here goes some of my favorite Navy terms & phrases and their origins. BTW, if you’d like a “full-blown” Navy Glossary, I’ve put one together and it’s available to download.

Chit

One tradition carried on in the Navy throughout the years is the use of the “chit.” It is a carry-over from the days when Hindu traders used slips of paper called, “citthi” for money, so they wouldn’t have to carry heavy bags of gold and silver.

British sailors shortened the word to “chit” and applied it to their mess vouchers. Its most outstanding use in the Navy today is for drawing pay and an official form used for requesting leave and liberty. But the term currently applies to almost any piece of paper from a pass to an official letter requesting some privilege.

Here’s a few of my favorite “offshoots” for chit.

Drop a Chit: The act of filling out a chit.

Chit Chipper: Another term for a paper shredder. So named because you can’t do anything without a chit, especially one that is “lost in routing.”

My Wife Chit: A special request that uses the wife as the excuse or justification for needing to be absent. I love the one floating around the Internet from a sailor requesting weekend liberty: “My wife plans on getting pregnant this weekend and I’d like to be there.” Think about it… I’ll wait.

I know what some of you are thinking, especially if you hadn’t served and just read that I started college at FSU. “He spelled the word, ‘Chit’ wrong. Shouldn’t it start with an ‘S’?” I’ve got news for you. My nickname in the Navy was “Chet Adkins” and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the phrase, “Chit, Chet” or “Chet Chit” or… the other. So no, I didn’t spell it wrong.

Smoking Lamp

Sea dogs of long ago who sailed the wooden ships endured hardships that sailors today never suffer. Cramped quarters, poor, unpalatable food, bad lighting, and boredom were hard facts of sea life. Yes, I know some of you still had those same complaints, but… spare me. Perhaps a more frustrating problem was getting fire to kindle a cigar or pipe tobacco after a long, hard day’s work.

Matches were scarce and unreliable in those days, yet smoking contributed positively to the morale of the crew, so oil lamps were hung in the fo’c’s’le and used as matches. Smoking was restricted to certain times of the day by the bosuns. When allowed, the “smoking lamps” were “lighted” and the men relaxed with their tobacco.

Fire was and still is, the greatest enemy of ships at sea. The smoking lamp was centrally located for the convenience of all and was the only authorized light aboard. It was a practical way of keeping open flames away from the magazines, gunpowder, and other storage areas.

In today’s Navy, the smoking lamps have disappeared, but the words, “the smoking lamp is lit in all authorized spaces,” remain a carryover from our traditional past.

There were lots of guys aboard Kitty Hawk and in the V-1 Division/Crash that smoked. I remember my good friend Gary Borne, who seemed to chain smoke when he could. “Can’t beat $10 for a carton of smokes.”

I first met Gary Borne at my first duty station, NAS Agana, Guam. He was the driver/operator of the Oshkosh Crash firefighting trucks and taught me how to drive. We’d serve together again aboard Kitty Hawk in Crash & Salvage.

I never got started smoking, though I’ll admit I tried a few times when I was a teenager–one of those “rebellious” things you do when you’re that young. Both my parents smoked… and both… died from smoking-related cancers. So I feel fortunate to have not picked up the habit.

Scuttlebutt

The origin of the word, “scuttlebutt,” which is nautical “parlance” for a rumor, comes from a combination of “scuttle,” to make a hole in the ship’s side causing her to sink, and “butt,” a cask or hogshead used in the days of wooden ships to hold drinking water. Thus the term scuttlebutt means a cask with a hole in it.

“Scuttle” describes most rumors aboard a ship. “Butt” describes the water cask where men naturally congregated, and that’s where most rumors get started. The terms “galley yarn” and “mess deck intelligence” also mean the spreading of rumors and many, of course, start on the mess deck.

It took me a while to realize that the term “scuttlebutt” could mean two different things. First, a water fountain: “Anyone seen Adkins?” “Yep. He’s over at the scuttlebutt getting a drink.”

The other was simply the rumor mill. “Today’s scuttlebutt says we’re heading to Christchurch, New Zealand. We’ll cross the equator and you know what that means: your chance to become a Shellback (from a Polywog).”

One more… remember when you were a kid in elementary school? Yeah, I know it’s a stretch, but stay with me here. Remember the “Telephone game,” where the kids formed a circle, and the teacher whispered something in one kid’s ear? Then s/he’d turned to the next kid to repeat it, then that kid turned to the next one, and so on. Then, when the last kid whispered what s/he’d heard back to the teacher, the result was not even close to the original “scuttlebutt.”

Chewing the Fat

“God made the vittles, but the devil made the cook,” was a popular saying used by seafaring men in the last century when salted beef was a staple diet aboard ship. I’m sure there’s still some of that verbiage used in today’s modern Navy.

This tough cured beef, suitable only for the long voyages when nothing else was as cheap or would keep as well, required prolonged chewing to make it edible. Men often chewed on chunk for hours just as if it were chewing gum and referring to this practice as “chewing the fat.”

Why does this remind me of beef jerky?

Bird Farm

USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) was a “bird farm.” As was USS Constellation (CV 64), Kitty Hawk’s sister ship, as was USS Enterprise (CV 65), the Navy’s first nuclear aircraft carrier. As were dozens of other carriers who have been mothballed and almost a dozen still in active service.

In the Navy, a “bird farm” is simply another term for an aircraft carrier. I’ve written many blogs about Kitty Hawk, working on the flight deck, and many of the challenges and dangers we encountered on a daily basis. The aircraft that we launch and recover are commonly called, “birds.”

And they call the carrier their home when at sea. Hence, the “bird farm.”

It really is that simple.

Polish a turd

“Making lemonade out of lemons.” “Trying to make the most out of nothing.” “When one door shuts open another.”

All of these idioms are similar, but to me, “Polish a turd,” is the best example of trying to make the most out of a bad situation.

And… I still use that term to describe a lot of things, especially during these challenging COVID times.

And now… you have a few more words and phrases to add to your own lingo. BTW – you won’t find any of these terms & phrases in the U.S. Navy Bluejacket’s Manual; at least, not my edition from 1973.

You can thank me later.

Stay safe, my friends.

Until we meet again,
Andy

Andy Adkins is a US Navy veteran (’73-77) and the author of several books. His newest novel, NEVER FORGET, is the story of A Vietnam Veteran’s Journey for Redemption & Forgiveness. NEVER FORGET is FREE (eBook, PDF) for all veterans. Download your FREE copy HERE.

Previous posts mentioned in this blog:

• #4—From Civilian to US Navy
• #23—Rough Seas – Sea of Japan
• #25—“Livin’ the Dream:” Life Aboard an Aircraft Carrier
• #33—Launch the Alert 5!
• #47—Memorable “Moments,” Part 1—the Flight Deck
• #67—Flight Ops: A Day in the Life of Crash & Salvage
• #68—Flight Ops: Another Fine Day in the Navy!

Answers

1. Morgan Freeman.
2. The Last Detail (1973), Mulhall (Otis Young).
3. Spooky (1967), Classics IV; written by Buddy Buie, Harry Middlebrooks, Mike Shapiro, J.R. Cobb.